Wednesday, 3 June 2015

Fail Fail Fail

Obviously, most people tell you about the good things and go a bit quiet when everything goes wrong.So, I thought I'd tell things the way they often are - on Sunday we went up to London because Robyn had set up a meal with a friend who was over from the States for a short holiday.We were going Japanese - Robyn loves Sushi and although I went to a 'sort of' Japanese restaurant once through work, it was a truly unhappy experience and that doesn't count. Also, I'd banned her from raw fish - she doesn't understand that the UK is the food poisoning capital of the world.....so this is not the place to eat Sushi.Still, I was quite looking forward to a new experience.Anyway, after Saturday in The Chilterns I was tired out and in pain so I wasn't going to take the Tube; we decided to drive up to town and take a chance parking.Finsbury Park here we go!I actually made it, and as I did live in town for a few years as a student and as I've been on more than a few protest marches over the years I didn't do so badly. I knew my way around. I didn't even get lost.At which point a little voice should have warned me about over confidence.I decided that as I'd got there too early, I'd drive on and take a photo of Tottenham Hotspur's ground - my old football team.Probably this summer, work will start to demolish this historic old ground, which does have a few memories for me.Except of course, it's been years since I was free to see a game and I'd forgotten where I was going - I couldn't find it.So as time was getting short I turned round and we headed back too Robyn's friend's hotel.We even made it in time. I actually got to park nearby.Except he'd left by the time we got there.Grrrrh.

We headed down to the restaurant but when we got there - no sign of him.

We waited.We waited some more.

It may be summer but it got cold and windy, so we moved to the corner out of the wind - no sign.I should say that Robyn's friend didn't have a UK mobile phone.We waited and shivered.Every heroin addict and alcoholic crossed the road to have a chat with me.I look a bit of a sight these days and people came up to us and asked "Are you alright?" in a kindly way.Bearing in mind that I had tried and failed to make one last pilgrimage to White Hart lane, the spiritual home of Tottenham, I was particularly happy that across the road from where we were waiting was an Arsenal pub.I can report that the party was in full swing - Arsenal (greatest rivals to Tottenham) fans were appearing from all over north London to celebrate.There were home and way kits, some historic Arsenal shirts from the 1970's. There were team scarves. There was drunkeness and singing.It was, after all, only 24 hours since Arsenal won the F.A.Cup.What a joy it was to be fully immersed in their celebrations.Not.Grrrrh!

And, after an hour, we gave up and came home.

On the way we stopped off at a bagel shop and bakery. After all we hadn't eaten. As you can see there were some amazing cakes on offer and we bought a couple to take home with us.

All I can say is that while they certainly looked the business when we tried them they really didn't really cut it.